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APM Examination
Once you have completed your course, you will be entered for the exam to achieve your qualification. The syllabus for the exam assesses the key elements of the project management life cycle.
The Fundamentals Qualification is a one-hour, 60-question, multiple-choice exam. You can sit the exam online at home, utilising the remote live invigilator. We can book your exam at a time to suit you.
You can find all the information you need for the exam here: https://www.apm.org.uk/qualifications-and-training/online-examinations-what-to-expect/
When you are ready to take the exam, please get in touch with us and we will talk through the process and make the arrangements for you.
APM Project Fundamentals Qualification
The qualification syllabus is broken down into learning objectives and learning outcomes.
Learning objectives provide a high-level summary of the learning expected for the qualification.
Learning outcomes reflect the competence criteria that are relevant to the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification.
Learning Objective | Learning Outcomes (What You Will Be Expected to Know) |
1) Understand project management and the operating environment | 1.1 Define the term project
1.4 State the key purpose of project management 1.5 Define the terms ‘programme management’ and ‘portfolio management’ and their relationship with project management
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2) Understand project life cycles | 2.1 State phases of a typical linear project life cycle
2.4 Define the term ‘extended project life cycle’ |
3) Understand the roles and responsibilities within projects | 3.1 Outline project management roles and responsibilities (including the project sponsor, project manager, project governance, project team members, end users, product owner and the project management office). |
4) Understand project management planning | 4.1 Define the term ‘deployment baseline’ 4.2 State how deployment baselines differ between linear and iterative life cycles. 4.3 Outline the stakeholders of a project management plan. 4.4 Outline the purpose and typical content of a business case. 4.5 Explain the role of a project sponsor and project manager in relation to developing a business case. 4.6 Explain how a stakeholder analysis supports effective stakeholder engagement. 4.7 Define the term ‘benefits management’. 4.8 State typical estimating methods (including analytical, analogous, parametric). 4.9 Outline the purpose of the estimating funnel. 4.10 Explain why establishing success criteria is important at the start, during, and at the handover of a project. 4.11 Outline the purpose and benefits of project progress reporting. |
5) Understand project scope management | 5.1 Define the term ‘scope management’ 5.2 Differentiate between scope management within linear projects and scope management within iterative projects. 5.3 Describe how product breakdown structures (PBS) and work breakdown structures (WBS) are used to illustrate the required scope of work. 5.4 Outline how a project manager would use cost breakdown structures (CBS), organisational breakdown structures (OBS) and the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM). 5.5 Define the terms ‘configuration management’ and ‘change control’ in the context of scope management. 5.6 Explain the relationship between change control and configuration management. 5.7 Outline the stages in a typical change control process. 5.8 Outline the activities in a typical configuration management process (including planning, identification, control, status accounting and verification audit). |
6) Understand resource, scheduling and optimisation | 6.1 State the purpose of scheduling 6.2 State the purpose of critical path analysis. 6.3 State the purpose of milestones. 6.4 Define the term ‘time boxing’. 6.5 Outline options for resource optimisation (including resource levelling and resource smoothing). 6.6 Define the term ‘procurement strategy’. |
7) Understand project risk and issue management | 7.1 Define the term ‘risk’ 7.2 Explain the purpose of risk management. 7.3 Outline the stages of a typical risk management process (including identification, analysis, response and closure). 7.4 Describe the use of risk registers. 7.5 Define the term ‘issue’. 7.6 Outline the purpose of ‘issue management’. 7.7 Differentiate between an issue and a risk.
7.8 State the stages of an issue resolution process. |
8) Understand quality in the context of a project | 8.1 Define the term ‘quality’ 8.2 Outline the purpose of ‘quality management’. 8.3 Define the term ‘quality planning’. 8.4 Define the term ‘quality control’. 8.5 Outline the purpose of ‘quality assurance’. 8.6 State the purpose of: decision gates, post project reviews, benefit reviews and project audits. |
9) Understand communication in the context of a project | 9.1 Define the term ‘communication’
9.3 Outline the disadvantages of different communication methods (including face-to-face, physical and virtual). 9.4 Outline the contents of a communication plan. 9.5 Explain the benefits, to a project manager, of a communication plan. |
10) Understand leadership and teamwork within a project | 10.1 Define the term ‘leadership’ 10.2 Explain how a project team leader can influence team performance. 10.3 Outline the challenges to a project manager when developing and leading a project team. 10.4 Outline how a project manager can use models to assist team development (including Belbin and Tuckman). |